


Encounter

by apple_08



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/F, LMAO, and also obnoxiously full of pop culture references, my bad - Freeform, this is very gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-07
Updated: 2017-03-07
Packaged: 2018-09-30 09:34:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10160297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apple_08/pseuds/apple_08
Summary: Please leave a comment if you like, or don't like, or have a thought, or are gay.





	

She reads like the protagonist of a gothic novella in the 1800's.  She's Carmilla with all of the charm, but none of the bite.  She wears black better than any model, she also looks good in yellow, and robin's egg blue.  And it's  _alarming_ how many capes she owns, but New York must be cold, and her lips always look too red, but maybe it's because she's always got them between her teeth, scheming -sometimes- sultry... 

Veronica Lodge was many things.  Too many to fit in one piano arrangement, she always must have another instrument accompanying her.  While the violin sings out high and clear, there is something else beneath it, grounding you.

She's grounded -Betty decides- as she catches Veronica slip a $20 into the tip jar at Pop's.  And maybe it's money she can afford to lose, but Betty was always taught that those kind of people -the ones who actually had money- they held onto it that much harder.

Not Veronica.

Maybe it was ignorance; a sheer misunderstanding of how the world works.  But then that would imply that Veronica was oblivious, and she certainly was  _not_ oblivious if all of those over-top-of-a-milkshake glances meant something.  The way her hand would find Betty's waist, or elbow, or wrist, whenever she was starting to tense up.  Maybe Archie was going on too long about his date with Valerie, or Jughead mentioned Polly offhandedly when discussing his investigation.

(And maybe it's a little obvious that Betty is still hung up on Archie, and the fact that her sister may or may not be crazy, but-) Veronica never fails to find her, walking around in a shroud of darkness, Veronica meets her halfway, takes her hand like it's not made of fire and blood and calmly walks them back into the light, the promise of cupcakes and spa dates lying in wake.

She reads like Cruella DeVille.  Or Maleficent.  Or some other all-knowing, glamorous, manipulative, classic movie villian  _but_

But.

"Hey Betts."  A warm smile.  "I like your hair today."

Betty wore it down for once.  

"I lost my rubberband."

She didn't.

Veronica reaches over, runs her fingers through Betty's hair.  She notices her nails painted black -her favorite color- but they're always short and manicured.  After a prolonged moment of  _just-exactly_ acceptable social behavior, Veronica retracts her hand, bites her lip, ducks her head almost shyly.  

"I think it looks good this way."  She stumbles, shaking her head quickly and adds, "Not that you don't look good every other day.  But this is also good."  Back to a smile, the confident rise of her chin masking her brief moment of vulnerability, "Change is nice sometimes."

Betty thinks back to all her kisses with Archie.  The ones Jughead dared them to do at Betty's telepathic request (more like, heavy eye contact and an extremely red face).  

She thinks about Jughead himself, how surprisingly soft his lips were, (how surprisingly little Betty was taken).

"Thanks!"  Betty smiles, and she stops feeling like the main character in a Taylor Swift music video for just a second.  She's not the desperate little good girl pining after her best friend.  She's not Sandy, harboring an untoward crush on the greasy miscreant who has a soft side.  Something about Veronica makes her feel safe, and  _normal_.  Like a compliment is just a compliment, and not another line in the movie script that is her life.

She holds out her arm to link with Veronica, and they walk together to class, looking like the "odd couple" if this were a movie, and they were being paired together.

(Betty knows better than that.  Veronica is just a girl -a really nice girl- who makes Betty feel like a real person.  Someone who could come off the page and kiss you and then slap you right across the face.  With Veronica in her life, for a moment, all the doors would open, and Betty could choose from a million different happy endings of her own design).

"You look pretty today too," she says, as they take their seats for first period.

Veronica looks shy again, black hair shifting in front of her face slightly as she tries to hide her satisfaction.  

"Of course, B, I always do."

Betty rolls her eyes even though she's grinning.

"I mean-" she scans Veronica quickly, "-this skirt."  She reaches forward quickly, tugging at the hem, and Veronica physically twitches, but maintains her signature smirk.  Betty feels a smirk coming on too.  She pats the spot between Veronica's skirt, and taut, brown, skin of her thigh.  "I really like the design."

Veronica leans forward conspiratorially.  "I picked it just for you," she whispers, "I know how much you love my legs."  She leans back still grinning, and Betty laughs because she can't tell if it's the truth, or Veronica is just messing with her again, but she can't find it within herself to care.

Two minutes till class begins.

Betty hasn't taken her hand off Veronica's leg.  She squeezes it once, just because she can, and smiles so hard at Ronnie's reaction, she feels it could break her face.

"You know," she murmurs sweetly, "I keep comparing you to characters I know.  Black hair, dark eyes, venomous claws, charming smile..."

Veronica quirks an eyebrow.  "Is that so?"

Betty nods.

"So then... who am I Elizabeth Cooper?"  Her smile turns soft at the edges; she places her hand over Betty's.

(and Betty swears she hears someone cough, probably because they look a lot like a couple about to make out in class, and Betty herself knows how annoying those people are, but she just can't bring herself to care)

Betty shakes her head, looking down, feeling silly...

"I honestly don't know yet Ronnie."  She looks back up, eyes gleaming.  She expects Veronica to answer for her "I'm Morticia Adams obviously" or maybe she'll even lean in and kiss her "does that answer your question?" but because she's Veronica and she's nothing like anything Betty's ever encountered before, instead she laughs.  She throws her head back, exposing all of her neck, only to conceal it back again with her chin (double-chin) as she bowls over in laughter.  The hand that was on Betty's is now pushing at her shoulder.

"Idiot!"  She kicks Betty's shoe with her own.  "Why did you even bring it up then?  I thought you had an answer?"

She wipes away a fake tear.

Betty smiles (she's been smiling this whole time), and shrugs.  "I know," she laughs, "I'm so stupid."

Veronica rolls her eyes, shoves at Betty again, and the teacher is shushing the whole class before they can continue.  (As if that stops Betty from staring at Veronica the whole time.  Marveling at the way her face is soft but has so many edges.  Her nose is small but her eyebrows are thick.  And her lips that are heart-shaped always purse like she's giving a kiss when she's thinking hard about something; her fingers scratch at something invisible on the desk; her feet spell out weird designs -restless- against the classroom floor.

(She's nothing like anything Betty's encountered before).


End file.
